Tawnya Stone got three $75 speeding tickets from automated traffic cameras — all on northbound Interstate 380 at J Avenue — between August and December last year.
Stone, 41, of Robins, ignored them as questions swirled about the legality of the cameras, and she said she wasn’t even driving in one case. A few months later, Harris & Harris LTD, a Chicago-based debt collector, began contacting her. But still she didn’t pay.
Last month, the consequences became real.
While planning for a new home, she and her husband discovered her credit history turned sour with three derogatory entries for $75 each.
“I’m a little surprised they can turn these in,” Stone said. “It would be the equivalent of someone opening a credit card in my name and holding it against me when they don’t pay the bill.”
A recent settlement that increases consumer protections for credit scores could eventually absolve Stone and others who don’t pay tickets — and at the same time spell trouble for Cedar Rapids’ automated traffic camera program.
It’s the latest threat to the cameras, which launched in Cedar Rapids in 2010 to make streets safer and free up officers for other needs.
Cedar Rapids has sued the Iowa Department of Transportation to resist an order to turn off or move some of the cameras, and the city faces class-action lawsuits in federal and state court.
The threat of bad credit has been one of the primary pressures to get people to pay tickets from the traffic cameras, which use images to detect and fine speeders and red light runners.
The tickets don’t go to the Motor Vehicle Division or affect driver’s licenses. Instead, notices warn violators that failure to pay may result in “formal collection procedures including, but not limited to, a credit reporting agency.”
That lever could be eliminated depending on interpretation of a May settlement between the big three credit reporting agencies — Equifax Information Services, Experian Information Solutions and TransUnion — and 31 state attorney generals, including Tom Miller of Iowa.
The settlement requires changes when it comes to debt reporting and fixing errors.
Among the changes, the agreement says credit agencies must prohibit debt collectors from reporting tickets and fines. Only debt from a contract or agreement such as a loan or credit card can be provided, according to the settlement.
“The credit reporting agencies are generally prohibited from adding information about fines and tickets to credit reports,” a statement from the Iowa Attorney General’s Office said.
The office would not say what that means for traffic cameras.
“The understanding we have is what we see on paper,” spokesman Geoff Greenwood said. “Since the questions have come up about traffic cameras, we are looking into it.”
Calls to the credit reporting agencies were referred to Norm Magnuson, a spokesman for the Consumer Data Industry Association. He said details would be hashed out as the credit agencies implement the plan over the next three years. It isn’t in effect yet.
Consumer protection organizations are more definitive, saying the language clearly applies to traffic tickets and fines.
It means “any debt that is unrelated to a contract. That would be traffic tickets or fines,” said Ira Rheingold, executive director of the National Association of Consumer Advocates.
He said the deal does not relieve the need to pay tickets, though. “It doesn’t mean you are in the clear in any way shape or form,” he said.
Chi Chi Wu, a staff attorney for the National Consumer Law Center, said cash-strapped cities have been instituting fines on citizens through the municipal code to help balance the budget.
But such debt is not “predictive of one’s credit worthiness” so it is appropriate the settlement prohibits using tickets or fines in credit scores.
Cedar Rapids has sent 100,218 unpaid traffic camera tickets to collections since 2012, city spokeswoman Maria Johnson said. About 15,000 tickets worth $1.1 million have been collected to date, she said,
A separate database provided previously by the city shows Cedar Rapids issued approximately 343,660 tickets from January 2012 through April 30. From August 31, 2014 to April 30, one-in-five of the 70,940 tickets issued were classified as “bad debt,” according to the data.
In March, Harris & Harris signed a second three-year contract with the city to provide debt collection services. The company earns a percentage of what it collects, up to $500,000.
Johnson had no comment about what the settlement means for the camera program, other than “Harris & Harris Ltd. has assured us they are compliant with all state requirements with regards to collections and reporting.”
Alan Kemp, executive director of the Iowa League of Cities, said if the settlement includes traffic camera tickets, it would make it more difficult to get people to pay.
“I presume the collection agencies will still try to collect, but you’ve lost one of your levers if not paying isn’t going to negatively impact your credit rating.”
He said alternatives include civil litigation to collect debt, but that option is likely too costly and time-consuming to make it worthwhile for $75 or $100 tickets.
http://www.thegazette.com/subject/n...-trouble-for-traffic-cameras-in-iowa-20150825
Stone, 41, of Robins, ignored them as questions swirled about the legality of the cameras, and she said she wasn’t even driving in one case. A few months later, Harris & Harris LTD, a Chicago-based debt collector, began contacting her. But still she didn’t pay.
Last month, the consequences became real.
While planning for a new home, she and her husband discovered her credit history turned sour with three derogatory entries for $75 each.
“I’m a little surprised they can turn these in,” Stone said. “It would be the equivalent of someone opening a credit card in my name and holding it against me when they don’t pay the bill.”
A recent settlement that increases consumer protections for credit scores could eventually absolve Stone and others who don’t pay tickets — and at the same time spell trouble for Cedar Rapids’ automated traffic camera program.
It’s the latest threat to the cameras, which launched in Cedar Rapids in 2010 to make streets safer and free up officers for other needs.
Cedar Rapids has sued the Iowa Department of Transportation to resist an order to turn off or move some of the cameras, and the city faces class-action lawsuits in federal and state court.
The threat of bad credit has been one of the primary pressures to get people to pay tickets from the traffic cameras, which use images to detect and fine speeders and red light runners.
The tickets don’t go to the Motor Vehicle Division or affect driver’s licenses. Instead, notices warn violators that failure to pay may result in “formal collection procedures including, but not limited to, a credit reporting agency.”
That lever could be eliminated depending on interpretation of a May settlement between the big three credit reporting agencies — Equifax Information Services, Experian Information Solutions and TransUnion — and 31 state attorney generals, including Tom Miller of Iowa.
The settlement requires changes when it comes to debt reporting and fixing errors.
Among the changes, the agreement says credit agencies must prohibit debt collectors from reporting tickets and fines. Only debt from a contract or agreement such as a loan or credit card can be provided, according to the settlement.
“The credit reporting agencies are generally prohibited from adding information about fines and tickets to credit reports,” a statement from the Iowa Attorney General’s Office said.
The office would not say what that means for traffic cameras.
“The understanding we have is what we see on paper,” spokesman Geoff Greenwood said. “Since the questions have come up about traffic cameras, we are looking into it.”
Calls to the credit reporting agencies were referred to Norm Magnuson, a spokesman for the Consumer Data Industry Association. He said details would be hashed out as the credit agencies implement the plan over the next three years. It isn’t in effect yet.
Consumer protection organizations are more definitive, saying the language clearly applies to traffic tickets and fines.
It means “any debt that is unrelated to a contract. That would be traffic tickets or fines,” said Ira Rheingold, executive director of the National Association of Consumer Advocates.
He said the deal does not relieve the need to pay tickets, though. “It doesn’t mean you are in the clear in any way shape or form,” he said.
Chi Chi Wu, a staff attorney for the National Consumer Law Center, said cash-strapped cities have been instituting fines on citizens through the municipal code to help balance the budget.
But such debt is not “predictive of one’s credit worthiness” so it is appropriate the settlement prohibits using tickets or fines in credit scores.
Cedar Rapids has sent 100,218 unpaid traffic camera tickets to collections since 2012, city spokeswoman Maria Johnson said. About 15,000 tickets worth $1.1 million have been collected to date, she said,
A separate database provided previously by the city shows Cedar Rapids issued approximately 343,660 tickets from January 2012 through April 30. From August 31, 2014 to April 30, one-in-five of the 70,940 tickets issued were classified as “bad debt,” according to the data.
In March, Harris & Harris signed a second three-year contract with the city to provide debt collection services. The company earns a percentage of what it collects, up to $500,000.
Johnson had no comment about what the settlement means for the camera program, other than “Harris & Harris Ltd. has assured us they are compliant with all state requirements with regards to collections and reporting.”
Alan Kemp, executive director of the Iowa League of Cities, said if the settlement includes traffic camera tickets, it would make it more difficult to get people to pay.
“I presume the collection agencies will still try to collect, but you’ve lost one of your levers if not paying isn’t going to negatively impact your credit rating.”
He said alternatives include civil litigation to collect debt, but that option is likely too costly and time-consuming to make it worthwhile for $75 or $100 tickets.
http://www.thegazette.com/subject/n...-trouble-for-traffic-cameras-in-iowa-20150825
